Cabled Capers

Cabled - (adj)1.having or made with a knitting stitch that produces a pattern resembling the twist of a usually two-ply cable (verb) 1. crossed one group of knitted stitches over another.
Capers - (noun) 1. frolicsome leaps 2. capricious escapades 3.questionable acts.
Adventures of a woman who loves to knit.

Name:
Location: Western Pennsylvania, United States

e-mail me at melanie(at)cabled-capers(dot)com

Sunday, August 13, 2006

It Looks Like YARN!!

DH and I went to the hunting camp in the Mountains for the weekend. The weather was gorgeous! Sunny days with the high only about 82 degrees F. It even cooled down enough last night to require a small fire in the woodstove for heat.

Yesterday we took a long walk out to the point. We haven't done this in years. It's about a 2 mile walk out and the weather was quite conducive for the activity. There is a lonely cabin out at the point that seems like it's been abandoned. It used to a nice little cabin but it now is in quite a state of disrepair.

The view down the river valley from the point is spectacular. You can see for miles. I think we need to walk out to the point again in the fall when the leave are in their autumn glory. We noticed that the forest is very quiet in August. birds weren't singing and there were no chipmunks or squirrels scampering about. It was almost ominous.


This morning I made a trip to The Reiland Farm for some spinning lessons. A trip well made!! I love to stop in at the Reiland Farm whenever we're in the area. They raise llamas, Angora goats (mohair!!) and sheep. I'd tell you more about it but I'm sure you'd learn more by checking out their web site, follow the link above... They sell a great yarn for felting and I'm sure it is good for many other purposes; I just haven't gotten past using it for felting projects yet. It's my favorite!! It's 1/3 mohair and 2/3 wool. It felts with a lovely halo. If you're ever in the Tionesta, PA area, stop in and check out the Reiland Shop. Sharon was very patient with my spinning beginnings and really helped me out. I felt like I was all thumbs at first but she gave me some good pointers to straighten out the fingers and the thumbs along with the hands and the feet.

After dinner this evening, I got my spinning wheel out and gave it a go again. I didn't want to forget what I learned this morning. I actually got to the point of making YARN... just a single at this point, but I would still classify it as yarn. I'm going to see if I can still do it tomorrow. I'm sure I still need to improve but I can certainly see some progress. I was so excited about spinning that I went upstairs and dragged my DS from his bedroom down to the porch to see. He was not as impressed as I was.

I made some progress on the Irish Moss sweater this weekend, one sleeve nearly done. I would have made more progress if I had remembered to take the next skein of yarn with me. I knit all the Silky Wool I had with me and was 1 inch short of a sleeve. I never travel with only 1 project so I worked on the Fiber Trends Felted Sheep Tote that I'm making. Yes, I'm using wool/mohair from the Reiland farm. Maybe tomorrow I'll get out the camera and take pictures to post, it's too late tonight.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Pat your head while rubbing your tummy!


I finally got out my Lendrum spinning wheel that I bought nearly a year ago. I decided it is definitely time to learn how to spin. This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time but always come up with an excuse to put it off. It's so much easier to pick up the knitting needles that feel so comfortable in your hands than to learn a new craft. I got out some roving that I purchased awhile back and decided to give it a go. I've learned that spinning isn't as easy as it appears. I've learned that I may not be as coordinated as I thought I was. I've learned that this may be something that I have to go to someone experienced to show me the light. I've learned that spinning is like patting your head while rubbing your tummy. I still won't give up until I conquer the wheel. This may take quite a while. It was actually a pretty funny experience. I figure that if thousands, maybe even millions, of people have been spinning for hundreds of years, I'll figure it out... Probably with the help of Sharon.

We went on vacation to Cape Henlopen, Delaware last week. Cape Henlopen is a lovely state park on the Atlantic Ocean. We had a good time despite the record high temperatures. It got to 102 degrees F with about 95% humidity (I think the heat index was 114 degrees F.) which makes camping a bit uncomfortable. My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters met us at the campground and we had some lovely "bathing beauties" on the beach










The little ones dealt pretty well with the hot sticky weather. We went to Lazy Susan's Seafood Deli for blue crabs which were absolutely delicious. DH and I took the wee ones into Lewes, Delaware to visit the toy store and for some ice cream while the others went into Rehoboth for some night life.


My daughter, son, the girls, and I made a trip to a yarn shop in Rehoboth, Knitty Gritty, and weren't overly impressed so we continued on to Bethany to check out Sea Needles. I scored some Clown sock yarn by Marks and Kattens. It should make some great socks for some cute little feet.